One Classic Latin Lover, Please

by McClure, Marcia Lynn

  Tierney’s smile was so wide it almost hurt. Alec looked incredible! She couldn’t wait to see the lip sync he and Rome had prepared—couldn’t wait to see Rome’s mother’s reaction.

  “So she was a real fan, huh?” she asked.

  “Oh yeah!” Alec assured her as he turned back to the mirror and adjusted a wayward cornrow braid. “I guess she cried for a week when…whichever one was considered the best looking died.”

  “Yeah. Rob Pilatus,” Tierney sighed. “He was gorgeous. I think he died in, like, 1998. That whole scandal and mess they went through…I guess he really never got over it.”

  Alec stopped, turned, and looked at Tierney with a puzzled expression. “You know which one was supposed to be the good-looking one? You know when he died?” he asked in obvious astonishment.

  Tierney smiled. “Of course I know about him,” she giggled. “After all, he was a pretty, pretty man.” She shrugged. “And anyway, I loved that song…and the old music video. And I don’t care if they were lip-synching. They did a good job of it.”

  Alec shook his head. “Your knowledge of Hollywood trivia and crap just amazes me sometimes.”

  “It sticks with me for some reason,” Tierney admitted.

  “So anyway,” Alec continued, “I suggested that Rome be the good-looking one…since his mom will be the one who enjoys it most. Plus, he’s a better dancer.”

  “And you’ll be Fab and do most of the lip-synching,” Tierney filled in for herself.

  “Fab?” Alec asked, a look of utter disgust puckering his brow.

  Tierney laughed. “Yeah! Fabrice Morvan, the other Milli Vanilli guy…the one that sang the most in ‘Girl, You Know It’s True.’ Dude! Didn’t you do your homework?”

  “Of course I did my homework!” Alec exclaimed in defense of himself. “Do you know how hard it was to get these wigs? Perfect cornrows with long, perfect braids? And Doc Martens ain’t cheap, sista! And I had to have this girl we know make these ugly, shoulder-padded ’80s jacket things…and I’m wearing women’s leggings. So yeah! I did my homework!”

  Tierney giggled—for the truth of the matter was that Alec looked hysterical standing there dressed like one-half of the famous (and infamous) singing duo Milli Vanilli. Still, it was a perfect costume! The cornrows and braids wig was phenomenal, and whoever the girl who’d made the wide-shoulder-padded jacket, tapered down to fit Alec’s hips, she’d done a great job. The black leggings that stopped at midcalf, black socks, and black Doc Martens shoes were perfect. And the spray of baby red roses made into a boutonnière he had pinned high on his left lapel was the perfect finishing touch! She wondered if Rome’s costume would be as authentic looking—wondered if he’d actually managed to find a large double coin brooch to wear on his Rob Pilatus jacket.

  The thought of Rome dressed up like Rob Pilatus caused Tierney’s heart and stomach to flip inside her. Rome was so incredibly good-looking already, and she was dying to see how hot he looked dressed up like the prettiest member of Milli Vanilli.

  Tierney wished she could quit thinking about Rome Novak. It seemed to her that she thought of nothing else. Still, at least thinking of Rome distracted her here and there from stressing about starting her job at the florist the following week.

  “Wait until you see it, Tierney,” Alec chuckled then. “It will crack you up. We’ve been practicing for a month. We’re so stupid.”

  “I think it’s wonderful…all the work you guys have put into this for Rome’s mom,” Tierney assured him. “You guys will be great.”

  There was a knock on the door, and Alec said, “Okay, that’s gotta be Rome. Will you let him in? We want you to take some pictures before we leave for the party, okay? Do you mind?”

  Tierney’s smile returned as she studied her brother once more. “Not at all! You guys are crazy!”

  Hurrying to the door, Tierney literally gasped when she opened the door to see Rome dressed as Alec’s Milli Vanilli counterpart. He was gorgeous—even with a wig and dressed like he’d just stepped out of an old 1989 music video.

  In fact, Tierney squealed with delight as he stepped into the room, clapped her hands with approval, and looked Rome up and down over and over and over.

  “I love it!” she giggled. “I cannot believe how good you look…how good you both look!” She paused a moment, still smiling as she studied Rome. “Of course, your legs aren’t skinny enough, and you’re way, way bigger than Rob Pilatus was—and better looking, of course—but wow! It’s perfect!”

  “Rob who?” Rome asked.

  “Dude!” Alec exclaimed as he entered from the other room. “My sister is such a Hollywood history nerd. She knows their names.”

  “But I thought they were just Milli Vanilli,” Rome teased.

  Tierney reached out to feel the fabric of Rome’s broad-shouldered, tapered red jacket. “It’s perfect!” she giggled again. She just couldn’t seem to hide her delight and amusement—especially as she looked from Rome to Alec and back. Their costumes were just plain phenomenal! “Gee, I feel like such a loser now, not having a costume,” Tierney teased.

  “You feel like a loser?” Alec asked. He looked to Rome and said, “She just told me my name is Fabrice, dude.”

  “Dude!” Rome exclaimed, frowning with sympathy.

  “Whatever,” Alec sighed. “Let’s just get some pictures. Then we can go. We don’t want to be late to your mom and dad’s soiree.”

  “No, we do not,” Rome said. Tierney giggled as she watched him struggle to pull his phone from the pocket of the jacket that was fit so snuggly at his hips. He touched the screen a couple of times and then handed the phone to Tierney. “Here. Just touch the camera icon, and it’ll take.”

  Tierney was still smiling as Rome and Alec positioned themselves in front of the bare wall behind the door.

  “Okay, Rob and Fab…now strike a pose,” she instructed. Tierney couldn’t help but laugh when Rome and Alec did exactly what she’d told them to—struck a pose that she’d seen on old Milli Vanilli posters online. “Oh, this is so awesome!” she exclaimed as she took several photos.

  “Here,” Alec said, handing his own phone to Rome. “Take some of me and Tierney, okay?”

  “Sure,” Rome said, shaking his head to cause the long braids of his wig to fall back from his face.

  Tierney posed with Alec, delighted that she would have photos to remember the event by. She reminded herself to use the camera she always carried in her purse. Maybe she hadn’t had many great photo ops over the past year, but this was one she could not forget to record.

  “Okay, now take one of me and Tierney,” Rome unexpectedly said then. Reaching out, Rome took hold of Tierney’s hand and pulled her to stand with him in front of the blank wall.

  “Oh, here,” Tierney said, handing Rome’s phone to Alec.

  She looked up to Rome, and he smiled at her. “Okay, try to look like a groupie…like you’re all excited to meet me,” he requested.

  “I can do that,” Tierney agreed. Goose bumps broke over her as Rome settled one strong, muscular arm across her shoulders.

  “Okay,” Alec said, directing Rome’s phone screen at them. “Smile and say, ‘Milli Vanilli,’ Tiers.”

  Tierney made the exaggerated expression of a fan caught in the arms of her favorite movie star—a big toothy grin—as she clung to Rome’s jacket.

  “You guys have to text these to me,” Tierney said as Alec handed Rome’s phone to him.

  “Tell me your number, and I’ll text them right now,” Rome said, smiling at her.

  As Tierney told Rome her cell number, Alec exclaimed, “Dude! We look awesome!” as he caught a glimpse of his and Rome’s reflection in the sliding glass door across the room. “We are going to own the women at your mom and dad’s party.”

  “Thanks,” Rome said as he saved Tierney’s number to the contacts on his phone. “I’ll text them to you now.”

  Tierney felt a bit foolish when her heart leapt a little in her chest at the realizati
on she was about to receive a text message from Rome Novak. She decided to pretend that, now that her phone number was saved in his phone, she and Rome were more intimately acquainted somehow. Tierney wondered for a moment if women ever really got over the delightful thrill that rose within in them each time a good-looking man stared at them, smiled at them, or flirted with them. She wondered if, when she was fifty and came across some handsome Rome Novak sort, she would still be secretly enchanted by his attention as she was in that moment. She figured she would—that any woman would—at any age.

  “Come on,” Alec said. “Let’s go. I can’t wait to see your mom’s face when we walk in, dude!”

  Tierney giggled with amusement as Rome quickly ran in place for a moment, mimicking one of the dance moves Milli Vanilli had performed in their old music video.

  “Me neither!” he agreed, bumping fists with Alec. “Mom is going to freak when she sees us.”

  Putting an arm across Tierney’s back, Alec said, “Come on, baby sister. You can be that chick in the ‘Girl, You Know It’s True’ video.”

  “In the slinky, blue elastic dress thing?” Tierney exclaimed.

  “Yeah,” Rome chuckled. He put his arm around her waist, sending goose bumps racing over her. “But you look way, way better in your fuzzy little sweater here,” he added, stroking the sleeve of Tierney’s brown sweater.

  “Oh, I’m sure,” Tierney mumbled with sarcasm.

  “Come on,” Alec said. “You’re about to have the time of your life, Tiers.”

  Both men removed their arms from around her, and Tierney tried not to be nervous as they left the house. New people? A party? It was everything that had secretly begun to frighten Tierney since the day she’d broken up with Dillon. Yet as she watched Alec and Rome exaggerate their swaggers and flip their braids this way and that, she giggled. How could it not be the time of her life—with Milli Vanilli as her escorts?

  ❦

  “You guys look awesome!” Celeste Novak laughed as she opened the door to see Milli Vanilli standing on the front porch. Covering her mouth as she continued to laugh, Celeste shook her head. “Seriously! Mom is going to freak!”

  Tierney, however, could only stand on the porch next to Alec in flabbergasted astonishment as she stared at Celeste Novak. For a split second, Tierney wasn’t sure if she were staring at a younger version of Salma Hayek dressed as Carmen Miranda (complete with a scarf wrapped around her head and a tropical fruit hat) or if the beautiful young woman standing at the open door were really Rome’s sister.

  “Do you dig the hair, Celeste?” Rome asked, moving his head back and forth to make the long cornrow braids of his wig swing this way and that.

  “It’s perfect!” Celeste exclaimed, clapping her hands together. The Latin-born beauty looked to Alec then—and Tierney did not miss the blush that rose to Celeste’s beautiful cheeks as she said, “Oooo, Alec! What an awesome brooch!”

  “I know,” Alec laughed (almost nervously). “It’s totally legit, right?”

  “It is! Mom is going to die!” Celeste exclaimed.

  Tierney studied her brother for a moment—observing the way his cheeks seemed a little rosier than a moment before, his body language a little stiffer.

  “What?” he mumbled, glaring at Tierney.

  “Nothing,” Tierney said as understanding washed over her. Rome’s sister! It was Rome’s sister Alec had a thing for!

  “Come on in,” Celeste said, stepping aside. “But wait until I go ahead of you so I can see Mom’s reaction!”

  As Rome and Alec stepped aside to allow Tierney to enter the house first, Celeste offered a hand to Tierney.

  “I’m Celeste Novak,” she said. “Alec has been so excited for you to get here!”

  Taking Celeste’s hand, Tierney shook it and said, “I hope I don’t drive him nuts too quickly. It’s nice to meet you, Celeste.”

  Then Celeste (the Latin goddess of beauty) giggled. “What’s with all this hand-shaking, right?” Pulling Tierney into her arms, Celeste offered a comfortable, welcoming hug. “Welcome to Leavenworth, Tierney…and to our party!”

  Alec and Rome entered then, closing the door behind them.

  “Where’s Mom?” Rome asked.

  “Out on the back porch,” Celeste answered, laughing again as she studied her brother from head to toe. “How much did you guys spend on these costumes?”

  “Probably not as much as you spent on yours, so shut up,” Rome told his sister as he pretended he was going to pluck a banana from her fruit hat.

  “You do look really great, Celeste,” Alec offered. “I mean…more than great. You look…look…like…you know…wow!”

  Celeste blushed again and almost sighed, “Thanks, Alec.”

  Tierney was convinced then. It was Celeste Alec liked—and she was fairly certain the feeling was mutual. Furthermore, Tierney entirely understood why Alec thought Celeste was out of his reach. Celeste Novak was astonishingly beautiful! Dark, almost black eyes and the longest eyelashes Tierney had ever seen—well, the longest lashes she’d ever seen that weren’t false, anyway. Celeste had the perfect hourglass shape too—buxom yet slender, curvy hips but not too large. She was wearing a lime-and-white striped sarong and matching rumba-sleeved halter-top. She even had a classic beauty mark to the left of her lower lip! It was like she’d walked out of a stereotypical role in some old Hollywood movie about a Latin supernatural being.

  As if her looks weren’t enough to capture Alec’s attention, Celeste seemed so nice and so normal—like she didn’t know how gorgeous she was. Tierney studied Rome a moment, thinking he had the same quality—an ignorance to how lethally good-looking and attractive he was.

  “Come on, Tierney,” Rome said, unexpectedly taking Tierney’s hand and almost yanking her farther into the house. “You need to meet my mom and dad.”

  “Wait, wait, wait!” Celeste said, however. “Let me go ahead of you. I want to see Mom’s face when she sees you guys.”

  Tierney giggled as she observed her brother watching Celeste hurry away. The platform shoes Celeste was wearing as part of her costume made her hips sway more exaggeratedly than they probably normally would have, and Alec O’Brien was thoroughly entranced.

  Leaning closer to Alec, Tierney whispered, “Wipe the drool off your chin, Alec…before you give yourself away.”

  Alec glared at Tierney and quietly snapped, “Shut up, Tiers.”

  But Tierney was amused—delighted, excited, and hopeful! Alec had his eye on someone, at last! The incident with Valerie Gilland years before had scarred him for life—that was for certain. He’d never trusted another woman since, and though he’d dated several girls over the past couple of years, it was always very casual, and none of them had made Alec nervous and blushy the way Celeste Novak obviously did.

  “Come on, bootylicious,” Rome said, tugging at Tierney’s hand once more. “Let’s get this party started, hmmm?”

  “Yeah…come on, bootylicious,” Alec laughed, looking to Tierney. He winked at her then as if to say, Touché!

  The Novak home was warm and cozy in both atmosphere and decor. Lamps, shelves, and furniture were slathered in fake cobwebs and assorted black and orange Halloween decorations; jack-o’-lanterns and pumpkins were tucked seemingly everywhere. As Rome led Tierney through the house and toward a sliding glass door leading to a covered porch, she tried to soak it all in—the scents of the homemade root beer she saw bubbling in a cast iron caldron that obviously had dry ice in it, of pumpkin lids cooking because of the candles in the jack-o’-lanterns, of salty chips and ranch-flavored dip.

  As they reached the patio, Rome released Tierney’s hand, turned to Alec, and said, “I suppose we should, like, make an entrance for my mom’s sake, right?”

  “Absolutely,” Alec agreed with a nod. Alec looked to Tierney and asked, “Wanna go in first? Or after us?”

  “Definitely after,” Tierney assured him with a giggle. She had no desire to walk out onto a porch full of people she didn’t k
now and have them stare at her in wondering who the heck she was.

  “Okay then,” Rome said, inhaling a deep breath. “Kiss us for luck, okay, bootylicious?”

  Tierney’s eyebrows arched in surprise. Was he kidding?

  Alec leaned toward her, tapping his cheek with one index finger, however, and Tierney placed a quick kiss there.

  “Me next,” Rome said, leaning down a bit.

  But instead of offering Tierney his cheek, he reached out and took hold of her chin, planting a quick, warm kiss to her lips.

  “Dude,” Alec chuckled, frowning even as he smiled at Rome, “quit pervin’ my sister, man.”

  “What?” Rome said, releasing Tierney’s chin and shrugging as if he hadn’t done anything out of the ordinary. “For luck…like in Star Wars when Princess Leia kisses Luke for luck before they swing out over that chasm thing and—”

  But Alec shook his head, mumbling, “Shut up, man.”

  Rome grinned, winked at Tierney, and then followed Alec in stepping out onto the Novaks’ covered patio.

  The reaction of the guests to the sudden appearance of Milli Vanilli was quite audible, to say the least. Everyone erupted into clapping and catcalls, and Tierney figured it was Rome’s mother who (dressed like a very familiar character from the Harry Potter books, Professor Trelawney) squealed with delight and flung her arms around Alec and Rome as she jumped up and down and laughed with joyous amusement.

  But Tierney found she couldn’t move to join the others out onto the patio. She stood completely immobile—still reeling from the fact that Rome had kissed her on the lips for luck, instead of allowing her to kiss his cheek the way she’d done with her brother. He’d kissed her—right on the lips! He’d actually reached out, taken hold of her chin (in very much the same way he had at her bridal shower all those months ago), and kissed her!

  It wasn’t until Celeste appeared, linking arms with her and saying, “Come on out, Tierney. Mom and Dad are dying to meet you,” that Tierney finally snapped out of the awed trance that had rendered her immobile.